The Battle is Won

Last night, April 17th, 2018, a beautiful, loving, talented, caring, musician, my Aunt Debbie, won her battle against brain cancer and walked through the gates of Heaven.


I know you're probably wondering why I say that she won the battle when cancer claimed her life. The answer is simple. There is nothing better than to join our Lord and Savior in Heaven. If that is what awaits at the end of a long, hard-fought battle, I view it as a win. Pain and sickness no longer have a hold on her life and she has been given a new body.


Aunt Debbie has been a positive influence on my life for as long as I can remember. I was four when we moved to Kenya and she was there with her parents. One of my favorite memories of those early years is going to the field between our house and hers. She owned a boomerang and my sister and I thought it the coolest thing in the world when she would throw it, just for it to come right back to her.


When Aunt Debbie graduated High School she returned to the States to attend Baptist Bible College where she studied music and missions. After earning her degrees, Aunt Debbie returned to the mission field to work alongside my parents and grandparents.


During her time as a missionary, Aunt Debbie shared with me her absolute love for music. She taught my sister and I how to read music, helped develop our singing voices in the church choir, shared with us her knowledge of the piano, and spent endless hours teaching us to play. When I asked to learn to play the guitar, she happily stepped up and taught me what she knew. I will forever remember her passion for music and love of teaching.


Our houses were built on the same property and we had many opportunities to spend time with her. She was our music teacher, our babysitter, but most of all, our friend!


We would stay with her when our parents would go away for the weekend. I remember many hours camped out in front of the television eating burgers and watching Care Bears or Jurassic Park. When the power would go out, as it often did and still does in the land of Kenya, my sister and I would seek out Aunt Debbie. Gathering around her piano we would peruse her extensive music collection and listen to her play, sometimes singing along. We would joke around that she had magic powers. Without fail, after sitting at the piano and playing for a time, the power would return.


One of my absolute favorite memories is from my high school years. We returned to the mission field after I obtained my driver's license and I was a bit upset I wouldn't get to use it until I went back for college. But then one day my family went to the Nairobi Game Park with Aunt Debbie. We took two vehicles to allow comfort along the way, otherwise, we would have been crammed into one and that would not have been fun!


Anyway, once we purchased our entrance to the park Dad and Aunt Debbie drove to a small clearing just inside the gate. We stretched our legs for a moment, our route for the morning was discussed, and all headed back to the vehicles. Only, Aunt Debbie told me to get in the driver's seat of her SUV. I was floored!


The rest of the morning, Aunt Debbie braved letting me drive her vehicle around the Game Park. I am sure she cringed several times as I hit a pothole, or about drove us through a bush, but she was so gracious about the experience. I will never forget that day or the joy she brought to my life with that simple act.


Aunt Debbie also invested in the lives of many missionary kids. She was a music teacher, camp counselor, and friend to many over the years. She invested a lot of love, sweat, and I'm sure tears into the kids she came into contact with.


The last year and a half have been hard. Knowing that my Aunt was in Florida, battling brain cancer ... well, it is something I never dreamed I would experience. When I was told of the cancer my heart dropped to my stomach and air suddenly became hard to take in. She is not the first in my family to be touched by cancer, but that did not make it hurt any less.


I followed her journey closely through her blog posts. Seeing how God was bringing her through not just the good, but the bad days as well. Her positive attitude and complete trust in God is something that encourages me in my own walk with God.


But now her journey, her battle, is over.


My heart aches and tears flow, but not because she is gone. Why? Because I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will see her again. She will be whole and healthy and praising her Lord with the choirs in Heaven.


John 11:25(KJV) says, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."


This verse is a promise that those who believe in Him, that Jesus died for our sins, and then defeated death and sin by rising from the grave on the third day, they will live even after death.


You may be asking how it is possible for one who is dead to live. The answer is simple. If you believe in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, and give your life to Him, then when you die you will go to Heaven to live with Him for eternity.


I know for a fact, without a shadow of a doubt, that Aunt Debbie believed the promise of eternal life. I know that she believed in God's Son and His sacrifice so that we might have eternal life. And I KNOW for a fact that I can take comfort in knowing that I WILL get to see her again one day.


One other thing that I know is that she would not want you to miss the same opportunity. Aunt Debbie was a wonderful woman who always looked for a way to help others. As painful as losing her is, she would want her journey, her life, and her death, to be used to guide others to the One who can grant eternal life.


My aunt, Deborah Stamper, was a wonderful example in my life of what a Godly woman should be. I know that her legacy will live on in the lives of those she has touched over the years and the testimony that she leaves behind.


I love you Aunt Debbie!